Etimology
From Middle English allowen, alowen, a borrowing from Anglo-Norman allouer, alouer, from Medieval Latin allaudāre, present active infinitive of allaudō, merged with alouer, from Medieval Latin allocō (“to assign”). Doublet of allaud (via allaudāre) or allocate (via allocāre). The similarity with Middle English alyfen (from Old English ālīefan) and German erlauben, both from Proto-Germanic *uzlaubijaną (“to allow”) is coincidental.
verb
allow (third-person singular simple present allows, present participle allowing, simple past and past participle allowed)
(ditransitive) To grant, give, admit, accord, afford, or yield; to let one have.
(transitive, catenative) To enable; to permit; to grant license to; to consent to.
To not bar or obstruct.
(transitive) To acknowledge; to accept as true; to concede; to accede to an opinion.
(transitive) To grant (something) as a deduction or an addition; especially to abate or deduct.
(transitive) To take into account by making an allowance.
(transitive) To render physically possible.
(transitive, obsolete) To praise; to approve of; hence, to sanction.
(obsolete) To sanction; to invest; to entrust.
(transitive, obsolete) To like; to be suited or pleased with.
(law, transitive) To decide (a request) in favour of the party who raised it; to grant victory to a party regarding (a request).
(transitive, MTE, MLE) To forgo bothering with, to let slide.
Examples
to allow a servant his liberty; to allow a free passage; to allow one day for rest
[…] he needed a great deal of money, but his uncle only allowed him two thousand roubles a year, which was not enough, and for days together he would run about Moscow with his tongue out, as the saying is.
I will allow my son to be absent.
With fresh material, taxonomic conclusions are leavened by recognition that the material examined reflects the site it occupied; a herbarium packet gives one only a small fraction of the data desirable for sound conclusions. Herbarium material does not, indeed, allow one to extrapolate safely: what you see is what you get […]
Although I don't consent to their holding such meetings, I will allow them for the time being.
Smoking allowed only in designated areas.
The use of algorithms in policing is one example of their increasing influence on our lives. And, as their ubiquity spreads, so too does the debate around whether we should allow ourselves to become so reliant on them – and who, if anyone, is policing their use.
to allow a right; to allow a claim; to allow an appeal to allow the truth of a proposition
Mr. Knightley, I shall not allow you to be a fair judge in this case.
I allow, with Mrs. Grundy and most moralists, that Miss Newcome's conduct […] was highly reprehensible.
Half the night passed before the wench allowed that it might be safe to stop.
To allow a sum for leakage.
When calculating a budget for a construction project, always allow for contingencies.
The inlet allowed a facility to bring the money in a boat secretly and at night to the very foot of the hill.
A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
Truly ye bear witness that ye allow the deeds of your fathers
We commend his pains, condemn his pride, allow his life, approve his learning.
Therefore so please thee to return with us,And of our Athens—thine and ours—to takeThe captainship, thou shalt be met with thanks,Allow'd with absolute power, and thy good nameLive with authority. So soon we shall drive backOf Alcibiades the approaches wild,Who, like a boar too savage, doth root upHis country's peace.
How allow you the model of these clothes?
To allow an objection, to find in favour of the objection and forbid the conduct objected to; to allow an appeal, to decide the appeal in favour of the appellant .
Easy on violence, now I doubt itI could’ve banged this face but allowed it
Related words
synonyms
(let have): grant, admit, afford, yield, give, permit, allot, bestow, concede
(grant license): permit, consent, let, concede
(not bar or obstruct): tolerate, suffer, permit, admit, concede
antonyms
ban
forbid
prohibit
related terms
allowance
disallow